Introduction to the Bible Archives - The Bart Ehrman Blog

Bible Intro: Nearing the finish line

I am happy to say that I have nearly finished writing the rough draft of my Introduction to the Bible; those of you who have been on the blog for a while know: this is a college level textbook (so, written for 19 year olds) for a one-semester course on the Bible, Genesis to Revelation. I’ve actually enjoyed doing it. In preparation I spent a couple of years teaching the Introduction to the Hebrew Bible course at UNC, refreshing my memory on the Jewish Scriptures and getting back abreast of scholarship, after I had not done much in Hebrew Bible for 25 years. And I realized, once I started getting into it, that some of the “knowledge” I had 25 years ago was given me by professors nearing retirement age who were, as a result, giving me information that was at that time 25 years out of date. So, well, I was 50 years behind the times. Not good. But I retaught myself Hebrew – which was fun; I’m still reading a bit every day. [...]

BDEhrman2017-12-16T22:41:09-05:00August 15th, 2012|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Teaching Christianity|

My Bible Introduction

As predicted, I began work on my Introduction to the Bible yesterday, and it has been as intense as expected. This is to be a fifteen-chapter introduction of the entire Bible, Jewish Scripture (= Old Testament) and New Testament, Genesis to Revelation (including Apocrypha). What a scream…. The really difficult thing for this book – as for every book – is to make it just right for the audience. My audience in this case is not readers at Barnes and Noble (the general public) and not my colleagues among the scholars. It is 19 year olds and their teachers. What is tricky is the balancing act between the two. For their teachers (who have to be thought of, since they are the ones who decide which textbooks will be used for the courses, and the whole point is to get your textbook used), I have to be knowledgable, scholarly and academically respectable, well organized, clear, and insightful. For the 19 year olds I have to be interesting and worth the trouble of reading (and informative, [...]

BDEhrman2017-12-23T13:34:22-05:00July 2nd, 2012|Book Discussions, Public Forum|

My Next Book

Several readers have suggested that this kind of post should be available on the blog for everyone, not just members. I think they're right! ******************************************************************************************************************* The next two weeks are going to be highly intense for me, and I’m a bit worried about how I will be able to fit in my “blog time.” The reason: I will be throwing myself day and night into writing my next book. Background Part One: As I think I’ve mentioned on the blog before, I try to write three different kinds of books for three different audiences. This keeps life interesting and varied for me. First, I write books for scholars, in which I try to advance serious scholarship, speaking the language that works with my colleagues who have PhD’s in the field and who are deeply conversant with all the ancient and modern languages and with all the major critical and historical issues. My most recent work of this kind is due out in October: Forgery and Counterforgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in the Early Christian [...]

BDEhrman2017-12-23T15:42:58-05:00June 30th, 2012|Book Discussions, Public Forum|

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Bible Intro: Nearing the finish line

My Bible Introduction

My Next Book